All eyes are on Apple’s App Store approval policy

Apple has endured grumbling from developers and consumers from the start of its App Store a little over a year ago. Despite its success (more than 65,000 apps, more than 1.5 billion downloads) Apple has gotten dings for its opaque app approval process and its history of rejections.

Some of it was arbitrary (farting apps in the beginning), some of it business-related (can’t compete with Apple), some of it was arguably offensive (nudity) and at least one was just a no-brainer screw-up by Apple for letting in and then pulling a baby-shaking app. Developers have told me the approval process is frustrating because Apple can take weeks to reply and doesn’t provide much guidance about how to get apps approved or why they got rejected.

Apple

The grumblings haven’t seemed to slow down Apple or caused it to have to change its imperious ways. But the tide appears to be changing. How much remains to be seen but there are hints that Apple may be lightening up, or may be forced to change its tune.

Apple’s app review process has taken center stage with the company’s decision late last month to reject Google’s Google Voice App. Google Voice is one of the most useful apps available because it lets you funnel all your calls through one number and gives you cool features like voice-mail transcription, free text messages and very cheap international calling. Apple not only rejected Google Voice but also pulled a couple of apps already approved that used the Google Voice service. The reason: it duplicated features in the iPhone.

People have assumed this was AT&T but not so fast. The Google Voice app is available on BlackBerry and Android devices on the AT&T network, which would seem to suggest that Apple was at least partly if not completely behind the decision. The reaction to the decision has been vocal but perhaps the most important questions have come from the Federal Communications Commission, which has asked Apple and AT&T to answer for the Google Voice rejections.

This is a turning point because it shines a government regulatory light on Apple’s App Store. It doesn’t mean the government is poised to force Apple to change anything but it has to give Apple some pause about the way it conducts itself.

Apple seems to be responding on some level to the rising criticism. Apple’s senior vice president of marketing Phil Schiller took time out this week to e-mail blogger John Gruber of Daring Fireball. Schiller wrote to clarify why Apple rejected the Ninjawords app, a dictionary that pulls from Wiktionary.org.

Schiller told Gruber that Ninjawords was denied because it pulled objectionable words from Wiktionary. Had Ninjawords waited for parental controls to be implemented with the iPhone 3.0 upgrade, they could have gotten approved without having to self-censor the objectionable content, which they did in order to get into the store.

The interesting thing wasn’t the explanation, but the fact that Schiller even felt compelled to write to Gruber. This from a company that acts like a PR black-hole at times. Requests for comment go in but answers often rarely come out. Schiller didn’t address the Google Voice furor but the fact that he responded at all to the Ninjawords case suggests 1) he felt compelled to set Gruber straight 2) Apple is perhaps willing to open up more and address public concerns or 3) Apple is feeling the heat and wants to avoid the wrath of government regulators.

I’m not sure how much Apple has to fear from regulators. The App Store is clearly their store and it’s not the only game in town. They can clamp down how they’d like to some extent. That’s been part of their success in the past, saying no to features and applications to improve the overall experience.

But I’m curious what effect Apple’s rejections will have on the market. I really like the idea of Google Voice so while I’m enamored with the iPhone 3GS, I’m gonna take a look at Android devices just to see what it’s like to have the app. This is an opportunity for rival phone makers and platform providers to sell themselves against Apple. Get the apps you can’t get on the iPhone.

Developers won’t leave the iPhone soon but as other platforms mature like Android and Palm’s webOS, you gotta wonder if they’re getting the itch to expand to them, especially if you know you won’t have to go through Apple’s approval process.

One other consequence is that this might cause a renaissance for web apps on the iPhone. If you recall, that was Steve Jobs’ original intent for developers: build web apps, not native programs. Now Google is saying that they’re working on a Google Voice app for the iPhone that will create the same experience without having to get approval from Apple. This won’t work for every app but many apps are just short-cuts to web content anyway. Google’s Vice President of Engineering Vic Gundotra said last month at MobileBeat that mobile apps will proliferate through browsers as they grow even more capable.

So perhaps, Apple with its strict approval process might chase away developers or get them to work on web apps. Either way, it could take some of the steam out of the might App Store. That is unless Apple eases up on its tight control.

So what do you think? Are Apple’s days of complete control over the app store numbered? Should they be? Developers, are you looking at exploring opportunities beyond the iPhone or pursuing more web apps?